California – from www.pressdemocrat.com – In a debate that was largely unprintable, a prolific porn star, an anti-porn pastor and a former stripper on Wednesday debated the merits and demerits, pleasures and pitfalls of the sex industry.

Presented by Sonoma State University’s Associated Student Productions and billed as The Great Porn Debate, the event drew 400 people to the school’s Cooperage building, and also was streamed live to a neighboring restaurant.

“This sells out everywhere we go,” said Pastor Craig Gross, 34, who operates www.xxxchurch.com, an 8-year-old website that he said is devoted to helping people who are in trouble because of pornography.

On his side in the debate was Harmony Dust, 34, a former stripper who now tries to help women who want to leave the sex industry.

On the opposite side was Ron Jeremy, 57, a longtime adult film actor and director.

Gross and Dust argued that the sex industry, whether in adult films or in live entertainment, can lead its consumers to deep unhappiness and its participants into deep and sometimes dangerous trouble.

“It is not harmless entertainment, there are plenty of people who suffer as a result of pornography,” said Gross, who was as quick as Jeremy to use terms and expressions that cannot be repeated in a family newspaper. He also argued that pornography creates unrealistic expectations about sex and how men and women look in the minds of people who watch adult films.

“It’s not what you’re going to find in a real relationship,” he said.

Jeremy repeatedly called the arguments by Gross and Dust “disingenuous,” saying that the adult film industry is meant for consenting adults.

“It’s just sex,” he said. “It’s just movies, entertainment.”

Later, he said of Gross, “He wants you not to watch it, I want you to feel okay watching it.”

At one point, Jeremy asked for a show of hands from anyone “who’s ever seen porn with a significant other.”

About 50 people in the audience, which was about equally male and female, raised their hands.

“To him, you’re invisible,” he said, gesturing at Gross.

Dust said that for its female participants, the sex industry was a painful place rife with substance abuse and women who suffered sexual abuse.

“Every day I see the aftermath of the sex industry in the lives of the people I work with,” she said.

She said she had been a victim of sexual abuse growing up and that when she started stripping, it gave her “a false sense of empowerment.”

But, she said, “The longer I was there, the more I felt powerless.”

Jeremy said he understood Dust’s point of view and was “sorry for what you went through.” But, he said, “for every girl you mention who’s having a problem, I know 100 who are doing fine.”

Sara Kaufman, events programmer for the student productions group, said she chose the event — one of about 100 the organization puts on each semester — from a selection of events made available by Wolfman Productions, a booking agency that also offers debate events about evolution, the media’s effect on elections and the drinking age.

“This one just came up and it looked like an incredible opportunity and we just jumped on it,” she said.

A senior who is majoring in psychology and women’s and gender studies, Kaufman said, “a serious debate about (pornography) is hard to come by. I think it gets too positive and too negative a rap without any serious consideration given to the actual components of the industry.”

She declined to say how much the student group, which has an annual budget of $216,000, paid to book Wednesday night’s debate.

Afterward, a long line of students lined up to get autographs, with much of the attention focused on Jeremy.